Cruising the Aegean Sea, Part 2

Note for anyone who might take EasyCruise in the future: They serve fairly decent food, but they do not always label the food that you might be eating. What was thought to be chicken in a lightly colored purple dressing of some sort, turned out not to be chicken at all. And it was not until the first bite was taken and swallowed that I realized the piece of food I had just ate tasted more muushy and fishy than chicken. I then looked down at my plate and noticed the tentacles. I knew I would never like squid.



Continuing along with our cruise, we stopped in the lovely island of Santorini, famous in such films as "Mama Mia" and "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
The Greek way of bringing ancient traditions into the modern age can be perfectly envisioned at Santorini, where white-washed houses cling precariously to cliff sides, and donkey caravans wind down mountain roads to the sea. Santorini, a volcanic group of islands in the Aegean Sea, is a beautiful mixture of archeological sites, sleepy seaside, hill top villages, and forbidding mountains.



The shape of the islands creates an immense, protected lagoon, in which safe harbor is found for all types of craft. Santorini is a large volcanic caldera, easily seen in the arrangement of its land masses around the deep central lagoon. Once known as the most active component of the Aegean Volcanic Arc, the last eruption in Santorini occurred in 1950. Many are drawn to the sublime romance of Santorini’s landscape, to the picturesque cliff top towns, and to the old-world feeling of the culture. Many are also drawn to the blossoming nightlife, and to the modern accommodations that have emerged to service the rise in tourism. Once called Kalliste, meaning “most beautiful,” Santorini charms, delights, and surprises all of its visitors.

This is where all the hiking in Guatemala and Belize paid off. As an optional tour excursion, we chose to take a short boat ride around Santorini and explore an active volcano near the island. For some of the group, this was their third volcano they climbed within a span of three months. Needless to say, HOLA members felt great when we climbed the volcano with ease and helped other members of group make it to the top.



Enjoying the top:



We even made a brief stop in Kasudasi, Turkey, where we visited Ephesus



and had a strong debate as to how the Romans used the public toilet.



As you can see, it looks very plausible that one can sit regularly, do their business, borrow a public sea sponge and wipe themselves and call it a day. However, some group members thought the Romans went like this:



This lead to a very interesting debate that lasted close to 45 minutes. Eventually, everyone had to agree to disagree. What is your opinion?